FEATURED ARTICLES ABOUT RIVERSIDE PARK - PAGE 2

Kurt Bogseth's only disappointment Monday was that he didn`t get to meet his hero, Chicago Cubs second baseman Ryne Sandberg. But given his private audience with most of the team (Andre Dawson, Shawon Dunston and Mark Grace included), the 13-year-old from Lisle was hard- pressed to complain. Kurt, a student at Lisle Junior High, was the celebrity bat boy for the Cubs` extra-inning victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates Monday night. And as he sat in his third-base-line box seat surrounded by his parents, brother and sister, Kurt described the perks of his position: "The best part was getting to go into the dugout before the game," he said.

After living in the same quiet Dallas neighborhood for two decades and taking daily fitness walks around it all those years, I know every house, shrub and squirrel on every street and alley of every route I take. Much as I love power walking, even endorphins can't take the tedium out of that workout anymore. That's why I pack my iPod and walking shoes when I travel. In a new location, the workout is refreshed. And if I'm traveling with other people, it's a good break from socializing -- crucial to my peace of mind.

By Kera Bolonik. Kera Bolonik is the fiction-forecast columnist for Bookforum magazine. Her book reviews have appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle, The Washington Post and The New York Times | November 23, 2003

And Now You Can Go By Vendela Vida Knopf, 190 pages, $19.95 The Unprofessionals By Julie Hecht Random House, 228 pages, $23.95 Reviewing two or more works in one essay poses a challenge for a critic, who may find herself having to abridge her assessments and draw parallels between books that, at first glance, seem to have none. Fiction writers like Julie Hecht, who developed a cult following with her 1998 debut story collection--"Do the Windows Open?"--and newcomer Vendela Vida make it even trickier with their respective first novels, both sharply if eccentrically observed, idiosyncratic narratives that would seem to resemble each other not at all. Yet at their very core is a startling, substantive similarity, though it appears in each novel to different effect.

Marquette Properties, general partner of River Place Apartments in west suburban Naperville, has announced plans to extend Naperville's Sesquicentennial Riverwalk, a linear park that meanders for 1 1/2 miles on both banks of the Du Page River, and link the complex with the downtown area. Once completed, the Riverwalk will extend westward past its new residential development on the south banks of the Du Page River, encompassing 22 acres of park improvements. Marquette Properties` total donation to the extension is $1 million.

The Cook County state's attorney's office will ask the Illinois secretary of state to temporarily suspend for health reasons the driver's license of a man whose car struck and killed three children in a Riverside park, a spokesman for the state's attorney said Sunday. The driver of the car, James J. Harasek, 60, told police that he "blacked out" just before his car veered through a ball field in Harrington Park on May 5, killing three children and injuring six children and three adults.

For the fourth year in a row, Alfredo Ortega, 19, was the first person in line at the Best Buy in North Riverside for the stores annual Black Friday sales event. Ortega waited for more than 24 hours to secure the coveted spot, spending the night in a tent he pitched on the concrete sidewalk directly outside the store. But unlike past Black Fridays, Best Buy opened at midnight this year, forcing door-busting shoppers like Ortega to sacrifice holiday time spent with family and friends.

While you are at North Riverside Park Mall for back-to-school shopping, taking advantage of the state sales tax holiday, Radio Disney's Back-to-School activities will keep the kids occupied with entertainment, contests and more. The Radio Disney AM 1300 Road Crew will be giving away tickets to the Jonas Brothers concert (noon-2 p.m. Saturday; the concert is Saturday at First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre); the Karate Academy will present a demonstration of martial arts (1:30 p.m. Saturday)

A body found floating Saturday night in the Des Plaines River has been identified as that of a Riverside woman missing since Jan. 20, Riverside police said. The Cook County medical examiner's office identified the woman as 39-year-old Nancy Confray, whose clothed body was found near a Riverside park area known as Indian Gardens, police said. According to the medical examiner, foul play did not appear to be involved.

At least 19 moviegoers were injured Saturday night when someone released what was apparently tear gas in a North Riverside theater. Police and firefighters were called about 10:35 p.m. to the Cineplex Odeon Cinema in the North Riverside Park Shopping Center, 7501 Cermak Rd. Five people were treated late Saturday at MacNeal Hospital in Berwyn, according to Randy Patton, assistant manager of the emergency room. Another 14 were treated at Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood.